Effects of high-intensity interval exercise on arterial stiffness in individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis.

Objective: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on arterial stiffness (AS) and vascular function in persons at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane, Embase, and Ebsco) since their inception through October 2023 to evaluate the effect of HIIT on AS and vascular function in persons at high risk for CVD. The weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated, and heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 test. Results: This study included 661 participants from 16 studies. HIIT significantly reduced pulse wave velocity (PWV) in persons at high risk for CVD [weighted mean difference (WMD), -0.62; 95% CI, -0.86--0.38; P < 0.00001]. Subgroup analysis showed that the PWV improvement effect was better when the HIIT program was performed 2-3 times per week and the duration was controlled within 40 min [2-3 times, -0.67; 95% CI, -0.93--0.41; P < 0.00001; time of duration, ≤40 min, -0.66; 95% CI, -0.91--0.41; P < 0.00001]. HIIT significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (SBP, -5.43; 95% CI, -8.82--2.04; P = 0.002), diastolic blood pressure (DPB, -2.96; 95% CI, -4.88--1.04; P = 0.002), and resting heart rate (RHR, -4.35; 95% CI, -7.04--1.66; P = 0.002), but had no significant effect on augmentation index (AIX, -2.14; 95% CI, -6.77-2.50; P = 0.37). Conclusion: HIIT can improve PWV in high-risk individuals with CVD and reduce SBP, DBP, and RHR, but has no significant effect on AIX. HIIT can effectively improve AS and vascular function and can be recommended as an effective method to improve AS in high-risk persons with CVD. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier: CRD42023471593.

Effects of Mindfulness on Obligatory Exercise During the Return of Injured Athletes to Sports: The Mediating Roles of Self-Criticism and Competitive State Anxiety.

Purpose: Despite the Advances in sports training methods and medicine, they have not reduced the recurrence rate of athletes' injuries significantly, and obligatory exercise may be an important reason for their re-injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mindfulness on obligatory exercise behavior, self-criticism, and competitive state anxiety in athletes recovering from injury, and explain their interactions. Patients and Methods: The study adopted the snowball and convenience sampling methods. From November to December 2022, a total of 265 high-level sports players in South China were selected, and ultimately, 208 valid data samples were obtained. Maximum likelihood estimation was used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses proposed using 5000 bootstrap samples to test the mediating effects of the structural equation model. Results: The results demonstrated that there were positive correlations between self-criticism and obligatory exercise (standardized coefficients = 0.38, p < 0.001), as well as competitive state anxiety and self-criticism (standardized coefficients = 0.45, p < 0.001). Mindfulness and obligatory exercise were correlated negatively (standardized coefficients = -0.31, p < 0.001), but there was no significant relation between competitive state anxiety and obligatory exercise (standardized coefficients = 0.05, p > 0.01). Self-criticism and competitive state anxiety mediated mindfulness's positive effects on obligatory exercise in part (standardized indirect effect = -0.16, p < 0.01), and this explanatory power was higher than in any previous study (R2 = 0.37). Conclusion: The irrational beliefs in Activating events-Beliefs-Consequence (ABC) theory play an important role in explaining athletes' obligatory exercise, and mindfulness has a positive effect on reducing obligatory exercise behavior.

Effects of physical activity on regulatory emotional self-efficacy, resilience, and emotional intelligence of nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The normalization of epidemic prevention and control has exacerbated nurses' physical and mental stresses. The important role of physical activity in relieving nurses' physical and mental stresses has received extensive attention from researchers in recent years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of physical activity on the regulatory emotional self-efficacy, resilience, and emotional intelligence of nurses and explain their interactions. The present study adopted the cluster sampling method. From April to May 2022, a total of 500 nurses in six municipal hospitals in Changsha City were selected. Finally, 402 valid data samples were obtained. Afterward, AMOS 23.0 (by maximum likelihood estimation) was used to process the collected data and analyze the proposed hypotheses by using 5,000 bootstrap samples to test the mediating effects of the structural equation model. The results demonstrated that there are positive correlations between physical activity and resilience (standardized coefficients = 0.232, p < 0.001), resilience and regulatory emotional self-efficacy (standardized coefficients = 0.449, p < 0.001), and emotional intelligence and regulatory emotional self-efficacy (standardized coefficients = 0.330, p < 0.001). The positive influence of physical activity on emotional regulation self-efficacy is completely mediated by emotional intelligence and resilience (standardized indirect effect = 0.237, p < 0.01), and this explanatory power is far higher than any previous study (R 2 = 0.49). The positive emotions generated by an individual's physical activity have an important explanatory role for individuals who want to establish more emotional regulation self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and psychological resilience.